Fewer cuts foreseen as Top Energy powers up

Peter de Graaf | 8th March 2010

Power outages in the Far North are expected to drop by half this year as upgrading of the  electricity network there starts to pay off,  says Top Energy.

The lines company serving the Far North is ranked 29th out of 29 lines companies around the country for reliability.

In 2009 the average Far North power user was left in the dark for a total of 900 minutes. Customers in the worst-affected areas, such as  Hokianga,  had to endure 27 power cuts.

A five-hour power cut on February 23 - caused by a maintenance accident on Transpower's high-voltage line to Kaitaia, not by Top Energy's local network - was "the last straw" for Northland Regional Council member and Farmers of New Zealand president Ian Walker.

Mr Walker has called on Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee to familiarise himself with the Far North's power woes and has demanded to know what the Government will do to fix the "chronic neglect of infrastructure".

Far from arguing with Mr Walker, Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said he was "on the right track".

"It's great to have someone from the Northland Regional Council supporting us."

Mr Shaw said the company acknowledged its reliability had been poor, so last year had embarked on a  $184million investment programme covering the next  10 years.

The company was virtually building a new network by doubling the number of substations to 20 and doubling the length of 33kV lines around the Far North.

Ageing equipment - such as Kaitaia's 52-year-old transformers - was being replaced, and last year the company had hired tree trimmer crews for a blitz on trees crowding overhead lines. Trees were causing half of all the faults in the Far North.

New automation equipment would make sure fewer people were affected when a power cut did occur.

Mr Shaw said "a huge catch-up" was needed because New Zealand's last big spend-up on power infrastructure was in the 1960s and'70s, and most equipment lasted about 40 years.

 Privatisation and a belief that the country would turn to small-scale, local generation had meant little investment since then.

As well as a lines charge increase averaging $15 a month late last year, the upgrade was being paid for by:

Increased borrowing.

Selling, then leasing back, buildings at Kaikohe and Kaitaia.

Income from a geothermal power plant at Ngawha, which now produced 70-90 per cent of the Far North's power needs.

Line charge increases for the next five years would be limited to the rate of inflation, he said.

A recruitment drive was also part of the upgrade, with 40 new staff needed. The company had had 350 applicants and had filled about a quarter of the positions so far.

NorthPower had shed skilled staff last year but many were heading to Australia, which was also starting a major infrastructure drive.

Mr Shaw said the investment programme was paying off already, with outages dropping to about half last year's tally.

The company's target was an average of 350 minutes without power per customer per year, down from last year's 900.

A Top Energy survey found one in four customers wanted no power outages at all. "In a perfect world that might be possible but, in reality, extremely expensive," Mr Shaw said.